For the second consecutive year, Hannah Miller has been named the Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame’s amateur driving champion.
Amateur drivers from driving clubs throughout the U.S. and Canada compete for the Museum’s Amateur Driving Championship. It is won each year by the amateur driver donating the most driver’s commissions to the Museum. Previous winners are Edward B. Rudner (1995), Bud Hatfield (1996, 1999 & 2000), Joe Pennacchio (1997), Lella McIlmurray (1998), Alan Schwartz (2001), Robert Krivelin (2002 & 2004), Gene Miller (2003), Scott Woogen (2005), Dein Spriggs (2006), Tony Verruso (2008), Todd Whitney (2010), Bob Hechkoff (2013), Steve Oldford (2009, 2011, 2012, 2014 & 2015) and Hannah Miller (2016).
In 2015, Miller drove at 21 different racetracks in the United States and Canada and represented the U.S. in an international amateur driving competition in Majorca, Spain. Her 32 driving victories are the most ever in a single season in recorded amateur racing.
In 2016, Miller repeated her stellar season, again scoring 32 wins. Her margins of victory ranged from a nose to 18 lengths. In September, Miller represented the U.S. in the international amateur World Cup in Budapest, Hungary, and finished second by only one point. She dominated in the 2016 CKG Billings Series, finishing as the combined points champion and winning the East Region Final at Pocono Downs and the $25,000 Billings Series Final at Harrah’s Philadelphia.
The Harness Racing Museum will recognize Miller with a perpetual trophy naming her 2017 Museum Amateur Champion and a portrait that will be presented to her at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony July 2, 2017.
(Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame)